MR816 and 2014 Macmini via Thunderbolt to Firewire adapter?

Steinberg Hardware Legacy Steinberg Hardware
1

I am thinking about giving my 2009 iMac (Core 2 Duo 3.05MHz) to my eldest son and replacing it with a new Macmini which only have Thunderbolt. Can I connect my MR816 CSX to it using a Thunderbolt to Firewire adapter or do I need to use a Mac with a Firewire port?

Thanks.

2

Bump.

I would very much appreciate if anyone could share their experiences.

Thanks.

3

Bump… :slight_smile:

4

I see this is an older thread, but no one answered. I am running a new 2014 Mac Book Pro and using dual MR816CSX interfaces. The Thunderbolt-to-firewire adapter works well. Just need a firewire 800 to 400 cable. I had no problems at all running this. Now, I have since added the Thunderbolt Display, and it has a built in FW800 port. I now use this, but have noticed that when my Mac idles (maybe when it wakes up after sleep mode) the MR816 has a huge input latency. I have to go into the Device setup on the MR and click on the buffer size and it goes back to functioning normally. I have not spent the time to figure out exactly what is happening, yet.

5

That’s reassuring news. However, it would be helpful to learn what make and model of adapter you’re using.

6

Apple. I bought it at the apple store

7

Thanks. I missed the response.

I couldn’t find a response anywhere so I bought the cheapest MacBook Pro instead, which still has FW. But I am still interested in getting a Mac mini installed in my rack just for DAW use.

Thanks again.

8

I see this is an old thread, but just for anyone else out there, I’m running this with no problems at all. In fact, am connecting the MR816 to a fw16e card in a Motif XF which is running a firewire 400/800 cable in to the apple fw800/thunderbolt connector and its all good. Shows up as a single 28/18 interface without requiring mac interface integration. The quality of the firewire cables does seem to impact the 816 though, I used to get interference and disconnection of the 816 when my fridge fan turned on !! Getting a better quality firewire cable removed this problem. Specifically, the lacie firewire 400/800 orange ribbon cable was not good.

9

I have moved to an RME Raydat PCie card now. I still use my MR816CSX’s, but they are now connected via ADAT cables. Works perfect. No firewire or drivers needed…except to setup the MR’s.